


maybe you’re not such a hot rod

by jacenbren



Series: we are but a beautiful chaos (the oppositeshipping collection) [2]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Character Study, Comfort No Hurt, Elemental Magic, Established Relationship, Everyone Needs A Hug, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff and Smut, Kai Smith Speaks Spanish, Kai is sad, Light Angst, M/M, Nightmares, Porn With Plot, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rough Sex, Smut, Temperature Play, Trauma, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Zane is very soft and just wants to help, of sorts, zane loves him very much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:42:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27131984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacenbren/pseuds/jacenbren
Summary: Zane laughed softly, his smooth tenor gentle and absolutely lovely, even with that electronic reverb to it. “Your choice of meditation areas often confuses me, you know. Taking your sensitivity to ambient stimuli into account, the probability of you successfully completing a full meditation cycle up on the deck is well below thirty percent.”Kai snorted.“Mmrhmmh,”he grunted, stretching his arms and grimacing as his back and shoulders popped loudly. “You’re sexy when you use big words,mi querido.”(or, a night on the Destiny’s Bounty with the two halves of the Equilibrium)
Relationships: Kai/Zane (Ninjago)
Series: we are but a beautiful chaos (the oppositeshipping collection) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1980362
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	maybe you’re not such a hot rod

**Author's Note:**

> I think the reason I like this pairing so much is because I somehow relate to both of them really well and like.. I need the serotonin these two give me ok

Kai had always had trust issues. 

His parents up and vanishing, leaving him (barely twelve at the time) to take care of nine-year-old Nya all by himself, was probably what had caused it in the first place. Over the years, every betrayal and back-stabbing their team received had only reinforced his staunch belief that trust was for fools and that _anyone_ could turn on you at _any_ second. Sure, he’d fight to the death for any of his teammates, but… 

Well, that annoying, self-deprecating little voice in the back of Kai’s mind constantly insisted none of the others would return the favor, not even Nya. 

Kai hated it; he hated himself. 

Living like this was so painfully lonely, but keeping himself and Nya safe had always been his number one priority. 

He sucked in a breath, still trying to calm his damn mind and meditate. 

_Fucking ADHD,_ he thought. 

He groaned in frustration and finally opened the beer he’d grabbed on the way up here out of habit. Sure, it was a bad idea and he’d been trying to cut back on his alcohol intake, but Kai found intoxication (ironically) rather sobering. 

With all the shit he’d been through, Kai sure as hell didn’t like being alone with his thoughts, and getting drunk was the perfect escape. 

_It could be worse,_ he thought to himself. 

Kai could’ve gotten himself hooked on drugs instead of alcohol, but at least he’d picked an unhealthy coping mechanism that both enhanced his powers (alcohol being highly flammable actually made his flames bigger and hotter) _and_ provided a convenient escape from the pain he was in on the daily. 

Kai heaved a sigh, draining the can and tossing it over the rail as he settled back into his meditative position. 

He couldn’t help but let his mind wander, the late evening breeze ruffling his hair as the Bounty glided above the clouds, the sounds of the engines humming and ropes snapping in the wind and the ship itself creaking quietly—

“If you’re trying to meditate, I wouldn’t advise doing it here.”

Kai yelped in alarm.

Before he could rein it in, orange flames exploded up and down his arms, and he frantically swatted them out. 

Damn it, he was lucky he was wearing a tank top. Being a fire elemental who constantly radiated heat like an active volcano and had the very flames he was often barely keeping under control burning in his chest, Kai frequently torched his clothes by accident. So far, the most embarrassing incident had been when Cole had unexpectedly popped a balloon during Jay’s birthday party, and sometimes Kai swore he could still get a whiff of the hideous odor of burning couch cushions whenever he thought about it. At least his boxers had miraculously remained intact (Nya had slapped her hands over Lloyd’s eyes anyway to save the kid from any more emotional scarring), saving him from an even _more_ embarrassing situation. 

“Sweet fuck, Snowflake,” Kai grumbled, dusting the last of the cinders off his biceps. “You know sneaking up on me has never gone well. For you _or_ anybody else.”

Zane cocked his head to one side, his lips twitching into a soft smile as he sat cross-legged on the deck next to him. “I noticed you had not yet returned to our quarters,” he murmured, as he shifted in closer, only slightly awkwardly. 

Kai couldn’t help but chuckle wryly. 

Ever since he’d started sharing a cabin and his bed with Zane, they’d grown much closer than the others, to the point where they could pick up on each other’s moods and quirks without even trying. Zane was the one person who’d been there for Kai throughout this long, torturous ordeal. 

Who had cleaned Kai up when he’d been delirious and hallucinating from Venomari spit?

Zane. 

Who had been there every time Kai stumbled back from a fight, injured even worse than last time, to patch him up while scolding him gently about being too reckless?

Zane. 

Who held Kai’s hair back when he got blackout drunk and puked his guts out into the toilet, then proceeding to gently but firmly chastise him about the negative effects of alcohol dependence as he cooked Kai breakfast when he was too hungover the next morning to do anything?

Zane. 

Zane had never shied away from him, which Kai had never fully understood. 

Even when Kai was at rock bottom. 

Even when Kai _realized_ he’d hit rock bottom, pulled out a pickaxe, and proceeded to dig his hole deeper instead of at least _trying_ to climb out. 

“I was trying to meditate,” Kai sighed. 

Zane laughed softly, his smooth tenor gentle and absolutely lovely, even with that electronic reverb to it. “Your choice of meditation areas often confuses me, you know. Taking your sensitivity to ambient stimuli into account, the probability of you successfully completing a full meditation cycle up on the deck is well below thirty percent.”

Kai snorted. 

_“Mmrhmmh,”_ he grunted, stretching his arms and grimacing as his back and shoulders popped loudly. “You’re sexy when you use big words, _mi querido.”_

He winced at the slip of Spanish. The fact that it had been the only language Kai knew for the first fifteen years of his life was a real pain in the ass since a) he’d had to take English lessons with Sensei Wu when he’d first started training, and b) the language barrier had been a major frustration in the early days for all of them, given that everyone else had been able to speak perfect English _but_ Nya and Kai. 

He still spoke almost entirely in Spanish when it was just him and Nya, but other than that, he’d been forcing himself to _think_ in English. 

Which was _hard._

“Why don’t we go back to our quarters?” Zane asked, taking his hands. “I might not require sleep, but you do.”

Kai heaved a sigh.

“Why the hell not,” he sighed, leaning forward to rest his chin on Zane’s shoulder, the blissfully cool metal pleasant against Kai’s hot skin. 

Zane hummed in amusement. 

They headed back down to the _Bounty’s_ barracks and to the room they shared.

Kai tossed his slightly scorched tank top off to the side and flopped down over the covers. Zane slipped an arm around him, pulling Kai to his chest. 

Kai yawned. 

Even though he was made of metal, Zane’s pecs were still surprisingly comfortable to use as a pillow, Kai thought to himself. Somehow he found the presence of mind to draw the thin sheet over the two of them (their wildly opposing body temperatures negated any need for heavy blankets) before he dozed off, wrapped up gently in his lover’s arms. 

Kai loved Zane more than life itself, and he’d sacrifice everything for his _novio._

  
  
———  
  
  


He woke up later that night screaming. 

Kai jolted awake, blood pounding in his ears as the nightmare he couldn’t quite remember sent terror coursing through him, his raw panic sending smoke rising off his skin towards the ceiling and his chest was _glowing_ like a lamp in the darkness of their cabin—

“Kai? Kai! What’s wrong?”

He snapped back to reality, tears blurring his vision as he collapsed back against the sheets, the fire in his chest raging as he gasped for air, his sharp breaths only fueling the blaze. 

Zane was leaning over him, fear and worry in his glacial eyes, which glowed in the dim light like tiny cerulean suns. 

“I don’t know,” Kai mumbled, kicking the sheets away. “I don’t know I don’t—“

“It was another night terror,” Zane murmured, and Kai groaned in relief as a cold hand pressed against his blisteringly hot forehead. “Wasn’t it, my love?”

Kai nodded miserably. 

He’d had frightening dreams for a while now, ever since their first few battles and the first one where something had gone _really_ wrong had started them. The others occasionally had them, too, and Jay even had panic attacks from time to time. 

Sensei Wu had finally taken the team to a doctor, who’d diagnosed all of them with something she’d called _C-PTSD._

Apparently night terrors were to be expected. 

“Do you want to talk about it, or be distracted from it?” Zane asked softly as he combed his fingers through Kai’s hair. 

The glowing heat in his chest was torturous. 

Kai whimpered, twisting in the sheets as the fire crept through his veins, and he winced, watching the familiar spider web of glowing orange flaring under his skin. It wasn’t uncommon for emotional stress to set off Kai’s powers. When it happened, he needed to vent the flames somehow, or he’d end up spontaneously combusting, and there were only two ways he’d found effective to reduce the intensity of his flames when his powers got hyperactive like this. 

And blasting fire into the sky for a few hours from the _Bounty’s_ upper deck wasn’t really an option right now. 

“I need a distraction,” Kai mumbled, biting his lip hard against the searing heat to stifle an abashed moan. 

Zane frowned. “What kind? Would you like to go for a walk around the ship, or—“

“Fuck,” Kai groaned, fighting back a breathy cackle as he sat up and wrapped his arms around Zane’s blissfully cold body, burying his face between his boyfriend’s damn _godlike_ pecs. “Baby, I was thinking of a _different_ kind of distraction.”

Zane blinked, staring owlishly at him. 

Kai heaved a sigh. 

Leave it to Zane to not understand metaphors in the most awkward possible situations, _especially_ sexual innuendo. 

“Damn it,” Kai chuckled. He winced as the fire in his chest burned so hot that he hiccuped a mouthful of smoke. “Baby, my powers are being a pain in the ass, and since you’re the only one who can cool me down, I think getting absolutely fucking railed by you will help.”

“Railed?” Zane said helplessly. “Kai, I don’t… oh. _Ooohhhhhh.”_

Kai snorted. 

That one had taken Zane a while, he thought to himself as he felt a pair of strong, cool arms wrap around him, icy lips meeting his in a deep, hungry kiss. 

Kai groaned. 

He hadn’t imagined that one could have a kink for temperature differences, but here he was. 

Zane growled into his mouth as he slid between Kai’s legs, kneading at the flesh of his thighs and slowly sliding those cold hands up to his ass.

_“Fuuuck,”_ Kai choked out. 

There was condensation beading on Zane’s cheeks; the closest the Nindroid could get to sweating. 

“I am assuming from your use of the word ‘railed’ in this particular context, you want it rough tonight,” Zane purred as he mouthed along Kai’s neck. “You do indeed have a pattern of requesting that we engage in intercourse when your powers need venting.”

“Oh, baby,” Kai groaned, threading his fingers through Zane’s snowy-white synthetic hair. “You have no idea.”

He reached over to the nightstand, the sweltering haze in his mind and Zane’s ministrations causing him to fumble with the drawer for a moment before finally pulling out a bottle of lube, which Zane plucked out of his hand with a cheeky smirk. 

That smirk sent another pulse of white-hot flames through Kai’s chest. 

“Fuck, don’t tease,” he whined breathlessly as Zane cupped him through his pants. “You know, baby, one of these days you’re gonna be the death of me— _mmmh!”_

Zane cut off his words by dragging him into another bruising kiss. 

Kai gasped. 

He could feel ice freezing in his mouth as Zane kissed him, only to melt and dribble cold water down his chin. Kai moaned in relief as the chill cooled the fire blazing beneath his ribs. 

And then Zane licked a thick stripe of frost down his bare chest. 

Kai yelped. 

“Needy tonight, aren’t we?” Zane taunted, pulling away so he could undress. 

Kai bit down on his fist, stifling a moan. 

Zane looked so regal like this, Kai thought to himself as he watched him strip down. Something about his snowy hair, all messed up in contrast with his Olympian physique and muscles rippling under titanium skin (covered in various little dents and scratches from all the battles Zane had fought that he hadn’t had the time or patience to buff out), eyes glowing the color of glacial ice as he pulled down his boxers and tossed them aside, was just… _radiant._ The sight of Zane, gloriously naked with that cool, calculating smirk on his face as he climbed back into their bed, was almost enough to make Kai cum in his pants right then and there. 

“You are very warm,” Zane remarked as he worked Kai’s sweatpants off. “My sensors indicate your skin is about 118 degrees Fahrenheit.”

“You think I’m hot?” Kai joked weakly. 

Zane nodded earnestly as he poured lube into his hand and slicked up his fingers. “Touching your bare skin would cause a normal human major discomfort, if contact was maintained. And yes, I do find you very attractive.”

Kai snorted. 

Then he yelped at the feeling of one of Zane’s cold, dripping fingers sinking into him and flexing. 

“Ssh,” Zane cooed. “Breathe, love.”

Kai whimpered, the fire in his chest flaring violently as Zane ever-so-carefully added a second finger, murmuring and stroking Kai’s hair as he scissored them gently.

“F—fuck,” he gasped. “Need more—“

Zane hummed thoughtfully. “A little bit longer, love. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Kai groaned in frustration. 

He reached down to touch himself, but Zane pinned his wrists above his head. 

“We’ll have none of that, thank you,” He murmured smugly. You wanted this rough, so that’s what you’re getting.”

With that, he added a third finger, and Kai let out a shriek. He wasn’t able to stop the puff of fire that leapt out of his mouth and hit Zane in the face, but thankfully it wasn’t hot enough to melt through solid titanium and do any real damage.

Zane coughed in surprise and chuckled, leaning down to kiss him.

“My little spark-thrower,” Zane purred, grasping at Kai’s hips. “Now be a good boy and roll over for me.”

No sooner had Kai flipped onto his stomach did he feel Zane grinding up against his ass, and he moaned out loud, grasping at a pillow and pulling it under his chest for support even though the fabric would scorch. 

They could always get new bedding. 

A wave of cold washed over Kai’s back, followed quickly by water trickling down his spine and a cold tongue lapping up the droplets, and Kai _screamed_ as Zane pushed inside him, a large hand on the back of his neck shoving his face into the sheets to muffle his cries. 

“Hush, my darling,” Zane growled, low and borderline feral. “Wouldn’t want to wake the others, now would you?

“‘C—course not,” Kai stammered. 

The fire in his chest was burning hotter than he thought it could ever get, and somewhere in Kai’s hazy mind he got a whiff of something burning as Zane began to move and _oh—_

The cold, the delicious and dirty feeling of being filled up, the pinpricks of pain from Zane’s fingernails sinking into his skin, all of it felt like heaven and hell crashing into each other and Kai realized he was screaming into the pillow as Zane fucked him hard and fast, leaning forward to bite down on Kai’s shoulder. 

“Oh,” Zane gasped, breaths coming in ragged pants. _“Oh_ , so tight. So perfect, so perfect _just_ for me.”

Kai barely managed to nod.

Fire was coming out on his breaths, curling around them as the sheets ignited, but cold washed over them as Zane put the flames out with a harsh puff of frost, and when the sudden drop of temperature hit, Kai was done for. 

He came hard, biting his fist and wailing as Zane kept thrusting hard until he caught his own release with a gasp. 

Kai slumped against the sheets, gasping. 

He giggled in exhaustion. 

Asking Zane to fuck him was _definitely_ an upgrade from jerking off alone in the bathroom and hoping to the gods that he didn’t set the shower curtain on fire. 

Kai flinched at the chill of a damp cloth cleaning his thighs and his chest, wincing at the soreness in his ass as Zane lifted him off the bed and laid down with him on the small couch under the window, kissing him affectionately on the forehead. 

“Better?” Zane murmured. 

“Absolutely,” Kai sighed.

The fire in his chest had died down quite a bit, he realized, curling up against Zane’s bare chest. 

Then he saw the damage. 

“Oh,” Kai blurted, wincing as he caught sight of the charred, blackened and damp spot in the center of the mattress, melting ice crystallized in the bed sheets that were stained with soot and… well, _various fluids._ “Shit, Sensei is _not_ gonna be happy with us.”

_“That_ is a problem for future Kai and Zane,” Zane sighed contentedly. 

Kai snorted. 

He loved Zane beyond belief, probably more than anything, really. Zane had given him hope and kept him sober, kept him from self-destruction. 

Zane was his lifeline. 

“I love you,” Kai murmured drowsily, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch and pulling it over both of them. 

Zane smiled, ice-colored eyes glowing with mirth. “I love you too.”

Kai hummed, settling back against his lover’s chest, basking in the lingering afterglow as he slowly drifted off to sleep. 

He had a feeling there would be no more nightmares tonight. 

**Author's Note:**

> Alexa play Ribs by Lorde because I listened to it while writing this and now all I can think of when I hear that song are these two soft and depressed bastards


End file.
